Stone crabbers prepare for the season

Local stone crab fishermen bait and drop their traps preparing for the upcoming harvest season opening Oct. 15.

DAVID ALBERS/STAFF - Stone crab fishermen Douglas Doxsee, left, and Robert Ethier bait and drop stone crab traps ten miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico while working on the Sea-W boat on Friday, Oct. 11, 2013. Stone crab harvesting season begins Oct. 15 and runs through May 15.

DAVID ALBERS/STAFF - Douglas Doxsee, of Naples, loads stone crab traps onto the Sea-W before heading out to place the traps from the docks at Kirk Fish Company in Goodland on Friday, Oct. 11, 2013. Stone crab harvesting season begins Oct. 15 and runs through May 15.

DAVID ALBERS/STAFF - Naples resident Bill Pilger talks to fellow fishermen as he captains the Sea-W crab boat on a trip to drop stone crab traps ten miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico on Friday, Oct. 11, 2013. Stone crab harvesting season begins Oct. 15 and runs through May 15.

DAVID ALBERS/STAFF - Stone crab fishermen Robert Ethier, left, and Douglas Doxsee bait and drop stone crab traps ten miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico while working on the Sea-W boat on Friday, Oct. 11, 2013. Stone crab harvesting season begins Oct. 15 and runs through May 15.

DAVID ALBERS/STAFF - Stone crab fishermen Robert Ethier, left, and Douglas Doxsee bait and drop stone crab traps ten miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico while working on the Sea-W boat on Friday, Oct. 11, 2013. Stone crab harvesting season begins Oct. 15 and runs through May 15.

DAVID ALBERS/STAFF - A stone crab trap bouy is thrown into the Gulf of Mexico as a line of traps are baited and dropped from the Sea-W crab boat on Friday, Oct. 11, 2013. Stone crab harvesting season begins Oct. 15 and runs through May 15.

DAVID ALBERS/STAFF - Pigs feet are used to bait stone crab traps on the Sea-W crab boat ten miles offshore from Marco Island in the Gulf of Mexico on Friday, Oct. 11, 2013. Stone crab harvesting season begins Oct. 15 and runs through May 15.

DAVID ALBERS/STAFF - Stone crab fisherman Robert Ethier pulls 60-pound crab traps to be baited and dropped ten miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico while working on the Sea-W boat on Friday, Oct. 11, 2013. Stone crab harvesting season begins Oct. 15 and runs through May 15.

DAVID ALBERS/STAFF - Stone crab fisherman Douglas Doxsee, of Naples, baits and drops stone crab traps ten miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico while working on the Sea-W boat on Friday, Oct. 11, 2013. Stone crab harvesting season begins Oct. 15 and runs through May 15.

DAVID ALBERS/STAFF - Stone crab fisherman Douglas Doxsee, of Naples, baits and drops stone crab traps ten miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico while working on the Sea-W boat on Friday, Oct. 11, 2013. Stone crab harvesting season begins Oct. 15 and runs through May 15.

DAVID ALBERS/STAFF - Marco Island is seen from ten miles offshore from the Sea-W crab boat on Friday, Oct. 11, 2013. Stone crab harvesting season begins Oct. 15 and runs through May 15.

DAVID ALBERS/STAFF - Crab trap bouys sit near the docks at Kirk Fish Company in Goodland on Friday, Oct. 11, 2013. Stone crab harvesting season begins Oct. 15 and runs through May 15.

DAVID ALBERS/STAFF - The Kirk Fish Company on Friday, Oct. 11, 2013, in Goodland. Stone crab harvesting season begins Oct. 15 and runs through May 15.

DAVID ALBERS/STAFF - Pat and Damas Kirk move a new ice machine into their family's wholesale and retail seafood dock on Friday, Oct. 11, 2013, in Goodland. Stone crab harvesting season begins Oct. 15 and runs through May 15.

DAVID ALBERS/STAFF - Crab claw hammers sit for sale on the counter of the Kirk Fish Company on Friday, Oct. 11, 2013, in Goodland. Stone crab harvesting season begins Oct. 15 and runs through May 15.